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Iran raises concern over ‘shortage’ of Afghan border forces
The special representative of Iran in Afghanistan has said that the new rulers of Afghanistan do not have enough forces at border posts and Iran should unilaterally establish border security.
But the Ministry of National Defense says that they have deployed forces to 450 security posts that have advanced military equipment along the borders of Afghanistan with neighboring countries.
Iran is worried about the infiltration of terrorist groups, including Daesh, into the country through the borders of Afghanistan, Iranian officials have said.
Hassan Kazemi Qomi, the special representative of Iran to Afghanistan, said in an interview with ISNA news outlet: “America is looking for evil, one of our big tasks is to help Afghanistan move in a direction so that it does not fall into the trap of these evils.
“Fortunately, ISIS has not been able to penetrate our borders,” he said adding “but the threat is there.”
“If they [IEA forces] exist, they don’t have a special uniform, we have to establish unilaterally security to strengthen the borders,” he said.
Qomi further added: “Emptying the arena in Afghanistan means that terrorism is strong there and will be drawn towards our borders.”
But the Afghan Ministry of Defense says that 450 security posts equipped with advanced military equipment have been established on the borders of Afghanistan with neighboring countries.
“We have eight border brigades, each of which has around 3,000 soldiers and they are engaged in service,” said Mohammad Yaqoub Mujahid, Afghan defense minister.
However, the Iranian president’s representative on Afghanistan also mentioned the issue of the legitimacy of the government and said that the Iranian government will continue to interact with Afghanistan, but Tehran will not recognize the new government until an inclusive government is formed.
He says that if the government wants to be recognized by the international community, they should have the support of the people and consider the people’s wishes.
“The fight against terrorism depends on the formation of a strong and inclusive government in Afghanistan, such a government can fight terrorism and carry out construction and development projects. Therefore, we have a desire to help Afghanistan move in this direction. Reconstruction and construction is not possible without the help of the international community. Afghanistan must definitely interact with the international community. This interaction is not possible unless Afghanistan complies with the legitimate demands of the international community and form a cooperative government,” said Qomi.
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), considers the government to be inclusive, but has said reforms will be introduced.
After a year, no country has yet officially recognized the new government but some countries are engaging with Kabul.
The Embassy of Japan in Afghanistan announced on Friday that the country has allocated $19.5 million in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.
In a statement, the Japanese Embassy said it hopes the aid will help bring positive change to the lives of vulnerable Afghans.
According to the statement, the assistance will cover the basic humanitarian needs of vulnerable communities in Afghanistan.
The embassy added that the aid will be delivered through United Nations agencies, international organizations, and Japanese non-governmental organizations operating in Afghanistan.
Japan’s total assistance to Afghanistan since August 2021 has reached more than $549 million.
Security forces at the Islam Qala border in Herat province prevented hundreds of young Afghans from illegally entering Iran.
Officials from the 207 Al-Farooq Army Corps said that around 530 people attempted over the past two days to illegally enter Iranian territory through areas of Kohsan district in Herat, but border forces detained them and transferred them back to their original areas.
Meanwhile, officials in the local administration of Herat said that due to severe cold along the illegal migration route to Iran, three Afghan migrants have lost their lives in the Kohsan district of the province, and a shepherd has also died there for the same reason.
Mohammad Yousuf Saeedi, spokesperson for the Herat governor’s office, said that some statistics and images shared on social media regarding the incident are not reliable.
According to him, further investigations are underway to determine whether any individuals have died on the other side of the border.
President Donald Trump suspended the green card lottery program on Thursday that allowed the suspect in the Brown University and MIT shootings to come to the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on the social platform X that, at Trump’s direction, she is ordering the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause the program, the Associated Press reported.
“This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” she said of the suspect, Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente.
Neves Valente, 48, is suspected in the shootings at Brown University that killed two students and wounded nine others, and the killing of an MIT professor. He was found dead Thursday evening from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.
Neves Valente had studied at Brown on a student visa beginning in 2000, according to an affidavit from a Providence police detective. In 2017, he was issued a diversity immigrant visa and months later obtained legal permanent residence status, according to the affidavit. It was not immediately clear where he was between taking a leave of absence from the school in 2001 and getting the visa in 2017.
The diversity visa program makes up to 50,000 green cards available each year by lottery to people from countries that are little represented in the U.S., many of them in Africa. The lottery was created by Congress, and the move is almost certain to invite legal challenges.
Nearly 20 million people applied for the 2025 visa lottery, with more than 131,000 selected when including spouses with the winners. After winning, they must undergo vetting to win admission to the United States. Portuguese citizens won only 38 slots.
Lottery winners are invited to apply for a green card. They are interviewed at consulates and subject to the same requirements and vetting as other green-card applicants.
Trump has long opposed the diversity visa lottery. Noem’s announcement is the latest example of using tragedy to advance immigration policy goals. After an Afghan man was identified as the gunman in a fatal attack on National Guard members in November, Trump’s administration imposed sweeping rules against immigration from Afghanistan and other counties.
While pursuing mass deportation, Trump has sought to limit or eliminate avenues to legal immigration. He has not been deterred if they are enshrined in law, like the diversity visa lottery, or the Constitution, as with a right to citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil. The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear his challenge to birthright citizenship.
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